The very culture of drugs is addictive | Barbara Ellen

Getting hooked is not just about chemical properties

A Canadian study suggests that people who think that they only use cocaine "recreationally" could be in danger of becoming addicted more easily than previously thought. After taking cocaine, participants underwent a PET scan while watching people with whom they had used the drug taking more cocaine. Just watching fellow participants take cocaine led to craving and a dopamine release in the dorsal striatum, which could lead to dependency.

Certain hard partying reprobates may right now be thinking: "How do I get on to a study like that?" More seriously, drug addiction is a grim, complex and sometimes fatal business and, as the study points out, it would be beneficial to catch it early. Presumably, other factors must be taken into account: how the drug was taken, how often and whether someone has an addictive personality. Something more than dopamine release has to explain why some people taking a hard drug such as cocaine end up addicted, while others don't.